Chapter 22: Pirate Hunter
"Hang on, Aquata!" said Lara as she ran to the edge of the roof. "We're going down!"
"Lara, please tell me you're not going to juuuuuaaahhh–oof!"
Lara was treated to another frightened cry from her passenger as she leapt off the three-story building for a nearby balcony. She landed on the railing, the wood creaking in protest to the abrupt load before she leapt again for a carriage below. The entire frame shuddered as she landed, Aquata making an "oomph" at the jolt.
"You all right?" asked Lara as Aquata slid off her back.
Aquata nodded, though truthfully she was trying to not give into her free running induced motion sickness. "Uh-huh…I think."
Lara turned her attention to the marina while Aquata tried to keep her breakfast down. She had not been here since the tournament, when she was using her lack of disguise as a mask to investigate Richard. She was unable to keep her mouth from hanging open when she first saw it, awestruck by the sheer number of ships and sparkling crystal waters. Cartloads of fish and seafood were unloaded, their scales gleaming like jewels they were so fresh, and the air was clean and cool with the ocean's presence. Even with her crippling thalassophobia she conceded it was a sight to behold.
Right now, however, it was a chaotic mess. The rooftop route was a wise decision on her part. People were fleeing the marina in all directions, stampeding like frightened cattle for whatever safety they could find. Meanwhile the marina guards were trying frantically to go in the opposite direction, but it was like swimming up a river. They took two steps back for every three forward.
A shrill scream followed by a louder roar quickly pointed Lara to the cause of the panic. A mob of a hundred men was forming ranks behind a man in a red and gold jacket waving a saber overhead. Before them was the seaclops, a large adult bull going by his color and size. Lara could see the marks littering his hide, recognizing them as "taming" scars. Someone was clutched in one of its giant hands. A woman, if the color and shape of the clothes was an indication. Circled around the seaclops were dozens of pirates, armed to the teeth with guns, blades, and all other manner of weapons. Some even had grenades and small crossbows on their persons, already loaded for when they needed to get a quick shot off.
Anger flared in Lara like oil set aflame, her hair bristling as her hands clenched into fists. If there was a facet of the criminal world she despised above all others, it was pirates. She hated those sea-faring barbarians. Loathed everything about them. Wished worse things on them than most could imagine. If she had her way, they would all be–.
A hand gripped her shoulder, giving her a firm shake. "Hey!"
Lara blinked. Her focus on the pirates caused her to zone out until Aquata nudged her back to awareness. "Huh?"
"I said, do you see Melody?" asked Aquata.
"No, not yet," said Lara.
"Well, keep looking!"
"What do you think I'm doing, watching seagulls!?"
Lara grit her teeth as her eyes swept over the marina. Her nerves were already on edge without the pirates' presence to rile her. She was angry at Melody for running off and angrier with herself for letting it happen. She was supposed to be a bodyguard. Her core duty was to protect Melody from harm, and so far, her performance was mediocre at best. Never mind when she ran after Sebastian and left Melody on the beach. This did not even compare. She could think of a dozen things she could have done differently to prevent this situation. She could have been holding the horse's reins. She could have jumped after her. She even could have used magic to stop the horse, although using magic in public was right up with using that ever again.
"I see her!" exclaimed Aquata, pointing straight ahead of them. "There she is!"
Lara perked immediately. "Where? Show me!"
As though on cue a rider-less dun mare came charging up the wharf the pirates were on, nearly running over several people as it fled into town. Lara followed its trail and Aquata's finger to a flash of yellow and a head of long black hair running…towards the pirates!
"What the…what is she doing!?" Lara cupped her hands to her mouth. "Melody, get back here!"
"Look!" declared Aquata, pointing ahead of Melody. "Ariel! And Eric, too!"
How she missed Ariel's bright red hair Lara could only guess, but now it was plain as daylight behind a stack of crates and wine barrels with Eric at her side. Melody's reason for running towards danger, though still idiotic, became much more evident.
The man with the saber shouted something that was lost in the din, waving his weapon about before pointing it at the pirates. As one the mob surged forward, their shouts carrying across the marina like the cry of soldiers charging into enemy lines.
One of the pirates gave a pair of sharp whistles. The others formed two ranks beside him, one kneeling and the other standing. They trained their guns on the incoming men.
"Mercy is wasted on heathens." The general leaned back in his chair, giving a flick of his wrist. "Proceed with the execution."
The soldiers nodded and shouldered their rifles, pointing them at the hapless boy and girl. The girl screamed as her brother hugged her protectively. He scowled angrily at the general. The man barely paid them any heed as he reached for his wine cup.
"No!" Lara shouted, running for the pair as fast as she could. She was still a good ten feet away when the guns went off, spewing fire, smoke, and bullets from their muzzles.
Lara planted a boot on the edge of the carriage and leapt, pushing off with such force she cracked the roof and caused it to tilt onto two wheels. Aquata shrieked, clinging to the roof as the carriage tipped over. Lara became a blur to everyone she ran past, hair flapping wildly and air howling in her ears. She ignored the watering in her eyes, never taking them off Melody. She closed the distance to the princess like a falcon diving for a pigeon, weaving around people and obstacles at a full sprint.
Eric tried to run to Melody, only to fumble and clutch his ribs after a step. Ariel was about to rush out when she saw Lara. Had anyone ever looked so surprised and relieved at once?
"Take cover!" shouted Lara as she lunged for Melody.
"No!" shouted Ariel.
Either Melody did not hear Ariel, or her voice was lost in the clamor around them, but she kept running straight for her parents, oblivious to the danger before her.
"Melody, hide!" shouted Eric again. He jumped to his feet, only to fall at the spiking pain that erupted in his chest. The adrenaline that allowed him to save Ariel was subsiding, and in its absence the cracked ribs where the board struck him made themselves known in full. Every breath was agony to him.
Ariel was about to run to Melody when a blur of red, gray, and brunette came hurtling down the wharf. To everyone running away it was just a blur blasting past him or her. To Ariel it was seeing her prayers answered by a golden-eyed angel.
"Take cover!" shouted Lara as she threw herself at Melody.
"Fire!" shouted the pirate captain.
The guns went off in a thunderstorm of small explosions as Lara tackled Melody from behind, taking them both to the ground as the pirates disappeared in a cloud of gun smoke. Ariel curled up tight, ears covered and eyes clenched shut as bullets flew like angry hornets, ripping into the barrels and crates in a shower of splinters and debris but failing to reach the royal family or Lara. A musket ball hit a nail in the wharf, screaming as it ricocheted towards shore.
Melody started to get up. "Lara!? When did–!?"
"Idiot! Stay down!" barked Lara, crawling on top of Melody before she could rise. She forced her head down, shielding the princess with her own body.
Captain Filipe and his sailors were not so fortunate. Jackets, shirts, and courage gave them as much protection from the bullets as rice paper. The first salvo tore into them like a pack of sharks. The leading rows of men fell with cries of shock and pain as the bullets struck their bodies. Filipe collapsed clutching a hole in his shoulder and another in his thigh. The charging mob faltered, their confidence shaken at witnessing so many men overcome at once.
"Second row, fire!" ordered the pirate captain as he put a bullet squarely in a man's hip.
Another roaring discharge of lead and gunpowder went off, cutting down another swathe of the would-be rescuers. Their bravery broke along with their ranks. Those not struck dove for cover or retreated with haste. Many chose the ocean over remaining in the pirates' sights, leaping in before swimming beneath the wharf. Some grabbed the wounded and dragged them away. Those who were not quick about it became targets, adding themselves to the wounded.
The bullets that missed their marks turned the wharf into a shooting gallery. They smashed into boats, barrels, and crates or bounced off hulls, decking, and metal with shrill screams. Several bystanders were hit, collapsing with screams as the bullets found them. A bullet blasted through the windows of a carriage as Aquata made for the wharf, prompting her to hide behind it.
Melody was unhurt, but her mind was not safe from the traumatizing effects of the gunfire and screams. The noises returned her to scenes of that terrible night in the pavilion. Memories flashed before her, bringing back all the fear and panic. The screams of wounded sailors became the screams of their guests. Pleas for help became her own and William's last words before death. The splinters raining down became drops of blood on her skin. Her breaths turned short and fast as panic tightened its grip on her, her entire body trembling.
The gunfire abruptly faded to a few lingering pops. Melody felt Lara get off her, which gave her a moment to breathe unrestricted. Then a strong hand seized the back of her dress, hauling her of the ground.
"You idiot!"
Melody was roughly dragged to the barrels before being flipped onto her back. Lara seized the front of her dress, snapping Melody out of her daze as she was held in front of the woman's furious face.
"Do you have a freakin' death wish!?" Lara hissed through clenched teeth. "What were you thinking running off like that!?"
"I was thinking my family's in danger!" snapped Melody. "What was I supposed to do, just run and hide while they die!? I had to do something!"
"And get yourself killed too!?" Lara snapped back, giving Melody another shake. "They've got guns, you halfwit! What were you planning to do, bat your eyelashes and ask nicely for them to give up? You almost got your head blown off!"
"What is a gun!?" shouted Melody.
"First row, fire again!" was all the warning they got before the pirates let loose a third salvo. A swarm of bullets smashed into their cover, making everyone duck as splintered wood and droplets of red wine rained down. Lara quickly covered Melody again as Eric pulled Ariel close. More of the failed rescue party were struck down.
Melody was losing her grip on reality. Every gunshot and scream stirred up memories of the party and her nightmares like silt in the waves of a storm. Images flashed before her faster and more vivid than before, blurring the line between mental and material. A bullet tore into a wine barrel, splashing her with red droplets. She was paralyzed with terror as he saw the wine run down her skin, no longer able to distinguish it from blood.
The raven landed atop the mast of a nearby ship, looking down at Melody quaking and quivering beneath Lara. No doubt she was in a great deal of emotional distress, reliving her ill-fated party in flashes and bursts because of the sounds around her. Wars too often left scars deeper than skin and flesh.
"Brave, daughter of sea and shore," he said, calmly stepping aside to evade a bullet that ricocheted in his direction. "I will give you that. But shortsighted and reckless as well. You've much to learn."
The raven's body fell apart, turning to the finest dust for the breezes to scatter. "Better you sleep than cause more trouble."
It happened faster than Melody could comprehend. One moment she was trembling as Lara shielded her from debris and bullets flying around them as she heard the frightened cries of people and sharp reports of the guns. Then the noises abruptly stopped. Lara's protecting weight disappeared. Melody opened her eyes to find herself curled up on a bedroll beside a familiar campfire. Infinite darkness surrounded her. The wharf, her parents, the seaclops, the pirates, Lara–they were all gone.
"Wh-what?" Melody blinked rapidly as she sat up. She looked down to see her sundress had become a plain pale blue nightgown. "What? What!? How did I get…what's going on!?"
She stood up, turning in circles. This was definitely the place she now visited in her dreams. But how did she get here? Had she been struck by a piece of debris? Or did Lara knock her out on accident? On purpose? But if she was here, then that meant everyone else was still out there! They were in danger! This was no time to be unconscious!
"Hey! Let me out!" she shouted at the top of her lungs. "I know you're there, demon! Let me out!"
Only the fading echo of her voice answered her.
"You can't do this to me!" she hollered. "My family is in danger! Let! Me! Out!"
"No," came the demon's voice, as vast and encompassing as the darkness. "You will remain here till this is over."
"And just sit here and do nothing!?" shouted back Melody. "You can't be serious! I have to help them! My parents are–!"
"Your parents will survive," interrupted the demon. "But your actions will not improve their chances. I will intercede as required, but with Anclagon present I doubt it will be necessary. She's more than enough to handle foes of this caliber."
"There's a seaclops out there!" exclaimed Melody. "And like…a hundred pirates!"
"Sixty-eight, to be precise."
"And there's one of Lara!" continued Melody. "She might've won the tournament, but she can't win against that many! It's impossible! They'll kill her, and then mom and dad will…will…!"
"If there is anyone whose safety you should fret over, princess, it's the pirates."
"The pirates?" Melody's brow furrowed. "Why?"
The demon only chuckled like rolling thunder. It was unsettling to Melody, as though he were knowingly withholding some clarifying detail that could change her perception of the situation entirely.
"Why? Why the pirates?" she asked.
The chuckling receded into echoes and then fell into silence.
"Hey! Wait! Don't go!" pleaded Melody. "Don't leave me here! Come back! Come back!"
Melody looked around for some sign of the demon, whether a distant light in the dark or if it was standing behind her. But she saw no trace of it, nor heard any sounds save her own.
"Hello?" she called out, feeling meek at the black emptiness around her. "Hello? Are you there?"
The only response was her echoes. Melody retreated to beside the fire, arms folded tight as though it would serve as her shield. This place had been a source of some comfort in the past months, in some small part because she felt someone watching over her. Without that presence she suddenly felt very small and alone, as though she were one soul lost in a world of night.
Lara continued to cover Melody as the captain ordered a fourth volley. Splinters and wine flecked across her back and hair as the bullets tore into their cover, but she was sure of their safety as long as they stayed here. The pirates' guns were far superior to the crossbows and longbows Seahaven had at its disposal. But compared to the firearms of the east that could rip through steel armor, level castle walls, or strafe battlefields with shrapnel, these were archaic and inaccurate. It would take dozens of volleys to breach through that much wine, wood, and packed materials. That and the pirates would run low on ammunition long before.
The gunfire faded to a few lingering pops, and then went out altogether. The air stunk of gunpowder laced with the groans and pleas of the wounded.
"Any of ye with shot, up front and ready!" shouted the pirate captain. "The rest of ye reload, and be quick about it!"
"Are you kidding me!? You don't know what a gun is!?" asked Lara as she got off Melody. "You've got cannons! Can't you figure out…Melody?"
Lara expected Melody to start yelling at her again. Instead she crumpled onto her side limp and unresponsive, her eyes closed as though sleeping.
"Melody?" Lara leaned close to her face. "Hellooooo? Hey, miss pain-in-the-neck, anybody in there?"
Still she did not move. Lara quickly propped Melody up against the barrels, looking for a gunshot or other trauma. Finding none she pressed her ear to Melody's chest. She heard the slow but strong pumping of her heart beside the whooshing of her breath. She let out a relieved sigh as she leaned back. Melody was unconscious, but definitely alive and unhurt.
"Melody!" exclaimed Ariel, quickly crawling to her daughter and taking her face in her hands. "Oh no! Melody!"
"What happened?" asked Eric as he joined his wife. "Is she hurt?"
"She's fine," assured Lara. "Looks like she fainted. Good thing too since she's got no sense of self-preservation."
"Ariel! Lara!"
Lara turned to see Aquata running towards them, crouching low to avoid any stray shots. Her skirt was pulled up high to keep from tripping on it as she ran.
BANG! PWANG!
A pirate caught a glimpse of Aquata and decided to fire at her. Everyone flinched as the bullet ricocheted off a barrel's ring and into a board. Aquata tripped over herself, somehow turning her stumble into an ungraceful somersault and rolling to a stop in front of Lara.
"Does charging into danger run in this family or something!?" Lara asked Eric with sarcastic seriousness.
"More like swims in it," admitted Eric.
"Aquata! What are you doing here!?" said Ariel.
"Looking for Melody!" said Aquata. "And Alana! Where is she?"
Ariel pointed towards the pirates. "The seaclops has her!"
"W-what!?" Aquata started to stand up, but Lara grabbed her wrist and pulled her down.
"Unless you want a hole in your head, stay down!" she warned. She drew one of her knives, wiping the blade on her pant before sticking it around the edge of the stacked barrels. She adjusted its angle, letting the polished metal act as a mirror.
She scowled at the sight of at least forty sailors lying on the wharf, unmoving or clutching wounds and delirious with pain. Blood coated the boards as they bled. They all appeared to be breathing, but some of them needed medical attention or they risked exsanguination. Some of their comrades were hiding behind whatever cover was close, tending to the few wounded they managed to drag away. One sailor peeked around the crates he was hiding behind. Seeing the pirates reloading he tried to dash for a wounded compatriot, but a pair of bullets quickly sent him back for cover.
Beyond the wounded was a thin cloud of dispersing white gun smoke obscuring the pirate crew. At the head of the group was a bearded pirate in a ratty black coat and worn tricorn hat. He carried enough knives on his person to open a cutlery store. A six-barrel pistol was in one hand and a barb-tipped whip was coiled around his other arm. He waved his firearm about as he shouted orders, bashing one man over the head for no apparent reason. Lara was certain he was the captain. They were always the loudest and most violent of the bunch, ruling through intimidation and force.
Behind the pirates was the seaclops. How they subjugated one much less got hold of it Lara had no clue, but it could not have been without a witch's aid. For their size, strength, and ferocity, Seaclops were slumberous creatures, especially the bulls. They could sleep for decades at a time in the quiet ocean depths, waking for brief periods of time to feed and mate before going back into hibernation. Waking one was as difficult as it was unwise. Seaclops were not fond of anything that disturbed their sleep and showed it by pulverizing the disturbance into silence so it could never trouble them again. There were stories of seaclops appearing in naval battles and sinking ships because of the noise.
Whether this one was dragged up from below or drawn out, Lara could tell it endured no shortage of pain at its captors' hands. From her hiding spot the whipping scars were even more evident. Pale raised tissue overlapped older scars over older ones still. There were raw marks around the manacles on its wrists. This creature had been put under duress again and again till its will broke. Why else would such an untamable denizen of the sea cower like that, much less take orders from human refuse like this?
Lara's eyes widened as she saw Alana in the seaclops' grasp. She must have come down with Eric and Ariel. How had she been captured? And why did it have to be her of all people?
"That queen is still 'ere! Get into ranks and move forward!" yelled the captain as he started pulling powder packs from his coat pockets. "And get yer swords out and finish off 'ese landlubbers! I want this deck drippin' red afore–yeow!"
The captain dropped his pistol as it became riddled with electricity. The metal turned red hot as the wood charred black and burst into flames. The pistol hit the wharf and shattered, scattering splintered wood and fragmented searing metal everywhere with a sound of ceramic dropped on stones.
"The curses is this!?" he shouted, clutching his scalded hand.
"Ah!"
Lara adjusted her knife, scanning about till she found a one-eyed pirate clutching his smoking hand as he dropped his electrified musket. It broke on the boards just as the captain's had.
"What's that noise? What's happening?" asked Ariel as she started to peer above their cover.
"Stay down!" barked Lara and Eric together as another pirate's gun was obliterated. Ariel ducked down as though she had been pulled, skittish at their sharp commands.
"What's going on?" asked Aquata, trying to position herself to see the reflection in Lara's knife.
"It's their guns!" said Lara, not taking her eyes off the knife. "They're being destroyed!"
"Destroyed? But how?" asked Eric.
"What's goin' on!? Who's doin' that!?" demanded the captain angrily, only able to watch as one gun after another self-destructed. The seaclops snarled as it moved away from the pirates, as fond of the bizarre happening as they were.
"I don't know!" lied Lara. She knew exactly what this was.
Witchcraft.
"Remora!" bellowed Ursula as she spun on the witch with an accusing finger, her dark skin turning shades redder with her boiling anger. "You backstabbing witch! You did this!"
"Perceptive for a rubbery scrap of calamari, aren't you?" taunted Remora, watching in the bubble as gun after gun was reduced to ruin.
"What have you done!?" demanded Ursula.
Remora shrugged, genuinely unthreatened by Ursula's tantrum. "I made sure my weapons don't fall into Alliance hands. You have a problem with that?"
"It's ruining my plan, that's what!" yelled Ursula. "Without guns–!"
A thread of red lightning shot off Remora and struck the wall, cutting of Ursula with a loud clap. "It was never your plan to begin with! Those are my guns! This is the Master's plan! And this is his order! You do as he instructs, whether you like it or not."
Remora gave a chuckle as she watched a pirate kneel over the remains of his musket. "Though, it's pretty entertaining from where I'm standing."
"Well, I'm so glad you're amused!" sneered Ursula. "But in case you haven't noticed, there's still a mermaid to kill!"
Remora brushed Ursula aside and thrust her hand into the cauldron. There was a hot hiss and several streaks of red electricity as the cauldron began to boil, the whirlpool within turning unstable.
"Now what?" asked Ursula.
"I'm taking out the trash," said Remora flatly.
"And what trash would that be?"
"That garbage on the dock, for starters," said Remora, her tone hinting she very much felt Ursula belonged among them. "They outlived their usefulness months ago. I planned to use them for myself but they're too weak even for that."
"Ariel is still alive!" fumed Ursula, her tentacles twitching about irately. "And so is that human of hers! That still makes them useful to me! I want them both dead!"
"So, you rely on this pack of defects to do it for you? What, afraid of getting your tentacles bloody? Tch! And you call yourself a witch? Pathetic!" Remora extracted her hand, letting the foul black fluid slough off into the now bubbling brew. "That'll take care of them once and for all."
"Then feel free to show yourself to the door," said Ursula icily as she moved to shove Remora out of the way.
Remora snatched Ursula's fingers and clenched hard, pushing them to the edge of breaking. Ursula screeched as Remora wrenched them back, falling to her knees as she tried to alleviate the torqueing pain.
"Watch your tongue or I'll rip it out!" spat Remora, an electrical thread arcing between her eyeholes as she leaned close to Ursula's face. "Give me an order again and I'll dissect you one organ at a time!"
Remora wrenched Ursula's hand to the side, causing her to cry out and roll away as the masked witch turned back to the bubble.
"Besides…" She extended her hand to the bubble, using her magic to make the image focus on Lara. "I want to see what happens next."
Alana could only watch from the seaclops' hold as the last of the pirates' guns were destroyed. The pirates were shocked, confused, and angry, shouting as they kicked and scraped at the useless remains of their weapons while cursing whatever treacherous black magic had robbed them of the upper hand.
"Shut up, the lot of ye!" barked the captain, silencing the clamor almost instantly.
Zzzrk…zzz….zzz-zrack…
Without the chatter of the pirates drowning it out, the hissing crackle of electricity and gargle of boiling water from behind became audible to the seaclops and Alana. The beast turned around, giving Alana a view of the whirlpool it and the pirates had come through.
It was closing.
Red lightning danced across its surface, causing the water to hiss and bubble with each jump across its inky maw. The swirling waters were churning and roiling in its death throes, the corkscrewing center moving about wildly as waves washed into it.
Several young pirates heard the noise and ran to the end of the dock. Alana could see them pale at the sight.
"What's that sound?" shouted the captain.
"We've got trouble, captain!" shouted back one of the pirates. "Something's wrong with the portal!"
"What!?" The captain shoved through his crew like an elephant through a cane field, all but throwing them aside as he stomped to the end of the wharf. Alana could practically feel his shock as he overlooked the faltering whirlpool.
"Captain! More trouble!" came a shout from the other direction, accompanied by a distant clank and jangle of swords and armor.
The seaclops growled as it twisted around, irked by the approaching noise. Alana saw the cause was the marina guards, rallying to the wharf from all over as the fleeing crowds finally dwindled. Already more than fifty were running down the wharf towards them, armed with crossbows, rapiers, and spears. Another hundred were making their way in small groups. The decking vibrated tangibly with their combined steps as they marched.
"I'm not risking me neck fer this!" one of the pirates declared, running around the seaclops for the edge of the wharf. "Don' know about the rest of ye but I'm gettin' outta 'ere!"
"Get back 'ere ye coward!" shouted the captain.
The pirate ignored him and leapt for the whirlpool, followed immediately by several others.
Any would-be deserters quickly abandoned all ideas of following when the first pirate touched the water. He barely had a foot in when the water rose and ensnared him like living tar, enveloping his entire body in black. His scream lasted only a moment before it forced its way into his mouth, drowning him as he convulsed from the electrical current. His form melted away to black sea foam, the froth lost in the turbulent water.
Alana clenched her eyes shut and looked away. She wished she could cover her ears against the short-lived screams and pleas of those who jumped, her stomach twisting in horrified revulsion at the strangled gurgling noises they made before dying. Those yet to make the jump ground to a halt while they could, but for three it was not fast enough. They were pushed over the side, grabbing at air before they fell in, strangled and dissolved to foam before the portal disappeared completely. Their dissolving forms squirmed in the shadows, joining the shrinking black portal before it disappeared completely.
"It's gone!" cried one of the pirates. "Captain, it's gone!"
"I can see that, ye barnacle-brained bastard!" spat the captain, kicking the unfortunate pirate in the shins.
"But why!?"
The captain grabbed the man by the shirt, shaking him like a rag doll. "Why? Why? Why do ye think!? It was Remora! That two-timin' Pit-spawn betrayed us! And I'll bet that tentacled freak Ursula had a hand in it, too!"
Alana thought surprise was an impossible emotion given her situation, but she was plenty surprised now. "Ursula! She's really alive!?"
The captain's face snapped up to her. Alana could see how furious he was, but also the beads of frightened perspiration on his forehead. She would have been mortified to know that he would sacrifice every last one of his crew if it meant leaving here alive and free.
Unfortunately for her, he had an idea about how to do it.
"Aye, she is…and now ye're goin' to get us out of 'ere! Monster, give the merwench here!"
The seaclops refused, holding Alana tighter as it growled at him. Alana doubted it was any attachment to her that made it disobey. More than likely it was anger at the earlier whippings.
What little if any sense of restraint or mercy the captain possessed disappeared as he unfurled his whip and lashed into the seaclops' stomach. The seaclops howled as it shielded itself with its tentacles, the whip leaving long bleeding gashes wherever it struck.
"I said give!" bellowed the captain as he lay into the seaclops in a frenzy. "Give her to me, ye tar-skinned beast, or I'll use yer corpse for a raft and flay yer ears off for a sail!"
The captain aimed high, slashing the whip across one of the seaclops' ears. The seaclops quickly dropped Alana, clutching its split ear as she bounced off one of its tentacles and landed flat on the wharf.
"Get her!" ordered the captain.
Alana fully intended to bolt for the water, but she barely got up when two pirates snatched her. "Let me go! Get off me!"
"Shut it, fish whelp!" snarled the captain as he grabbed Alana by the hair, twisting viciously. Alana cried out, clutching at his hand as he towed her along.
"What–ah!–what are you going to do with me!?" asked Alana.
Th captain twisted his grip again, causing Alana to cry and stumble. She cried again when he pulled her upright. "That all depends on yer sister, princess! Ye better hope she cares for ye, or this'll be the last sun ye ever see!"
Her sister's pained screams were enough to make Ariel and the others peer over their cover. She inhaled sharply when she saw the pirate captain shove his way through his crew practically dragging Alana by her hair. He stopped and thrust her in front of him, twisting back on her hair to make her arch her neck.
"He has the princess!" shouted one of the guards, their pace immediately quickening.
"All of ye! Stop where ye are!" ordered the captain, drawing a knife and pressing it along Alana's exposed throat. "Or the wench gets a new 'ole to breathe through!"
The guards slowed their advance but did not stop, hands reaching for crossbows and swords.
"Ye think I won't!?" shouted the captain. He pressed the knife harder to Alana's throat, drawing a thin line of blood from her skin. Alana screamed, terrified he had slit her throat as two drops of blood traced rivulets down her neck.
"Alana!" cried Ariel.
"Stop!" begged Aquata. "Don't hurt her, please!"
"Then tell yer dogs to stay where they are!" ordered the captain.
"Halt! Everyone stop!" ordered Eric as he waved frantically to the guards, wincing as it aggravated his ribs. Immediately the guards stopped in their tracks.
"Now tell 'em to drop their weapons!" shouted the captain. "All of 'em!"
"Do as he says!" said Eric. The guards looked nervously amongst themselves, not wanting to abandon their weapons with the princess' life at stake. "I order you to drop your weapons! Now!"
Though hesitant in their obedience the guards slowly did as they were told. Swords were unbuckled, quivers removed, and spears laid down as they reluctantly obeyed their king.
"That's more like it!" said the captain, only just letting up on the knife. "Now listen up, yer majesties! Here's 'ow this is goin' to play out! Ye're goin' to send someone over 'ere alone and unarmed! Don't matter who, but they better not have so much as a toothpick on 'em! I'll give 'em me terms for releasin' the princess, and then ye do them quick! If ye or them guards try anythin' funny…"
He twisted Alana's hair hard, earning another cry from his captive. "I'll turn her legs into chum and use what's left for my prow!"
"Ariel! Aquata! Help me!" pleaded Alana. "Please! Just do as he says!"
Ariel and Aquata almost bolted over the barrels in their eagerness to keep their sister from further harm. Lara dropped her knife and grabbed Aquata as Eric seized Ariel by the waist, both pulling the women back.
"Eric, let go!" demanded Ariel, struggling to escape his hold.
"Ariel, you can't go out there!" said Eric, holding onto her despite his own urge to do what she almost did. "There are more than fifty of those barbarians and they're still armed to the teeth! And there's that sea monster!"
"You heard what he said!" said Aquata. "If we don't do what he says he'll kill her!"
Lara turned and tossed Aquata into Eric. "He'll kill her anyways!"
Ariel, Eric, and Aquata looked to Lara. She was staring hard at her knife lying beside her, but with an intensity Ariel had never seen. A trembling shook the girl's arms, her jaw clenched tight as a vise. There was a palpable aura of anger around her, radiating it like heat off a fire.
"But why?" asked Aquata. "If we don't give them what they want–!"
"They're pirates!" growled Lara through her teeth. "Don't believe a word that bastard says! It doesn't matter what sort of promise or oath he gives you! Every one of them would stab you in the back first chance he got! Give him what he wants, and he'll kill Alana just for the fun of it! The only way Alana lives is to take them out!"
Ariel was reminded of the tone her father once used when he talked about humans. Words filled with hatred and disgust. For Triton it came from a place of deep pain, inflicted by the death of her mother and the various wrongdoings lesser humans inflicted upon the merpeople and fish folk. Just the sight of something even remotely associated with humans made his blood boil. She should know. She made the mistake of bringing human things into the palace many times.
She swallowed nervously as Lara retrieved and sheathed her knife. If she did not know any better, it sounded like Lara had those same feelings towards pirates. Perhaps even worse.
"And how do you suggest we do that, Lara?" asked Aquata snappily. "In case you haven't noticed Alana's got a knife to her throat and even more right behind her!"
"And again, they've got a seaclops!" added Eric. "How are we supposed to save her?"
Lara almost answered but stopped, grimacing as she bit the back of her lip piercing. How were they supposed to rescue Alana? For all her talk of not giving into the pirates' demands there did not seem to be much else they could do.
She leaned back on the barrels. "Hold on. Let me think."
"You better think fast!" said Aquata, one eye peering over the top of their cover. "That pirate doesn't look like the patient type!"
Lara took a breath, closing her eyes as she hastily brainstormed. She had to calm down and think. Running in with blades waving would get Alana killed, and others as well. Magic was not an option either with so many bystanders. Even if it could free Alana in an instant there was no telling how everyone else would react to it.
The enemy was at least sixty strong. They had no guns, but they were still armed with a variety of weapons. She saw swords mostly, but there were spears, flails, clubs, and even a few crossbows in the mix. The grenades were a nasty addition, even if they were little more than simple fuse bombs. Having a full-grown seaclops at their disposal only raised the danger. It was easily the equivalent of the entire crew in its strength and destructive capacity. Then there was the anxious captain to contend with. He already drew Alana's blood, and a wrong move on their part could spill a lethal amount.
Equally concerning were the wounded sailors between them. The longer this took the greater the risk to those who needed attention. But so long as Alana was a hostage the pirates were not going to allow anyone near. They could even start offing them just to prove the seriousness of their intentions.
Lara peered around the edge of the barrels, just making out the captain and Alana. This was a bad spot to be in, and she was not seeing much in the way of options. Direct confrontation was a bust if she could not use magic. A stealth approach posed other problems. There was very limited cover she could use to sneak up on them, and with so many eyes watching it would be that much harder. And seaclops had excellent hearing. Anyone paying attention to it would see something was up.
Her hands drifted to her knife. The bokken and sword were going to be ineffective at this distance, but her knives could still be useful. It was a long throw, but she felt confident she could hit the captain before he could cut down Alana. His head was plenty exposed, and a blade between the eyes would–.
The soldier raised his gun and aimed at her. "Die, you monster!"
Lara darted aside as he fired, his shot missing her completely. She closed in and swung her sword as she charged by, the blade cleaving through his middle with ease. She skidded to a stop and darted at the next man, parrying his rifle away before spinning and stabbing her sword through his heart. She ripped her sword free as she grabbed one of her knives and sent it flying at another soldier as he shouldered his rifle. The blade embedded in his forehead, the man's eyes rolling up as he fell back dead. Lara gave a sharp whistle and the knife flew back to her hand as she ran at the next man. He fumbled his rifle trying to load it, giving her the opening she needed to slash his life away.
Lara jerked her hand away as though the knife bit her. No killing. She was done killing. As much as she hated pirates and how dire this situation was, she was not taking lives again. She left killing with her old life in the east, including the plethora of aliases she accumulated over the years. She already broke her promise to quit fighting. She would not break this one no matter what.
As Lara pondered while the others watched for some inkling of her thoughts, one of the firework crates had been teetering on the edge of the wine barrels. The jostling from the gunfire had pushed it to a tipping point, and all it took was a light breeze to send it over. The crate hit the decking with a loud clatter and broke, making everyone jump out of his or her skin and spilling rockets all over the deck. Lara quickly drew her knives, ready to fight till she saw a single red firework roll in a lazy arc to Melody's feet.
She sheathed her knives and picked up the firework, turning it over in her hands. "Is this…a firework?"
"Yes," said Ariel. "What about it?"
Lara shuffled around Ariel and Eric to the crate. She opened the lid fully, causing more fireworks to spill out. There were rockets of all shape, size and color. More than enough for a large display.
"Where did these come from?" Lara asked as she picked up a small gray one.
"They arrived from Glowerhaven this morning," said Eric. "King Ben sent four crates of them."
Lara drew her bokken, looking between it and the firework in her other hand. An idea sparked in her mind. It was a crazy, reckless, and definitely dangerous idea. There was a very real chance Alana could be hurt even if it went right, and she could die if it went wrong. Only the daftest of fools would attempt something so absurd.
Which was exactly why Lara felt it could work.
Ariel was not sure if the look on Lara's face was reason for optimism or concern. "What are you thinking, Lara?"
"Ariel…" Lara set the bokken and rocket aside. "Do you trust me?"
Ariel blinked in confusion. "Uh…yes? Why?"
Lara moved over to her, clasping her shoulders firmly as she held her sight. "I mean it, because I need you to trust me. I need all of you to. So I'm gonna ask again. Do you trust me?"
Ariel paused. Did she trust Lara? Could she trust Lara? The woman had only been with them a few weeks, and there were still many unanswered questions surrounding her. She was extremely hesitant to share anything about herself, especially her past. She had a temper, and her social skills were unrefined to say the least. Ariel still felt a twinge of trepidation when she looked into those golden eyes. There was something wild inside them, like a flame just looking for a chance to blaze out of control.
But looking into them now Ariel did not feel afraid. Nor did the strength in Lara's hands make her nervous. She knew Lara could turn that strength against them in a moment. Yet the idea seemed as preposterous as Lara suddenly turning purple with pink spots. Ariel felt–no, she knew in her heart that they could depend on Lara.
'A time will come when you must make a choice. One that will decide the outcome of this war. To trust Lara or not.'
Ariel nodded. "Yes. I trust you, Lara."
"So will I," said Aquata. "Just please tell me you have a plan!"
A corner of Lara's mouth pulled up in a grin. "I do."
Ursula and Remora watched as Lara outlined what could only be some sort of rescue plan to the others. Ursula wished these magic bubbles could produce sound, but with only the image available it left their discussion to her imagination.
"Looks like we're about to find out how prepared you really are," said Remora amusedly.
Ursula scowled as Eric started to say something, clearly flustered by some part of this plan. Ariel quickly mouthed for him to let Lara talk. Ursula knew from experience that Ariel always had luck on her side. No matter how carefully the sea witch plotted, that little mermaid always managed to beat the odds. Ariel's own plans often went awry, but rarely did she ultimately fail. Ursula was not about to give her the opportunity to turn things around.
"Not if I can help it they won't!" She swam over to her potion stock and grabbed a vial with a green sea urchin and a bottle filled with cracked red stones. "Let's see her try this!"
Suddenly a pair of lightning bolts flew off Remora. They struck the vials, shattering them in Ursula's grasp. She shrieked as she recoiled, clutching her now numb and twitching hands.
"The Master allowed you the Tears of Ares and the portal," said Remora. "That's it. You won't use anything beyond that."
Ursula snarled at Remora. "You filthy human! Don't get in my way or I'll–!"
A metallic clinking came from under Remora's robes like thousands of chain links sliding over each other. A single arc of red lightning danced down her arm, casting crimson flickering light through the room. Her magic permeated the room, pressing down on Ursula's senses like the pressure of the deep ocean.
"You'll do what?" asked Remora, voice thick with challenging menace.
Ursula stopped, her teeth clacking as she snapped her mouth shut. She spoke without thinking, namely about Remora's earlier threat. There was nothing she could do. Her magic was useless against someone who could slaughter a sharkanian army single-handedly. She might as well threaten the Master in person. That way she might have a higher chance of survival.
"Nothing," muttered Ursula, her tentacles twitching in frustration.
"That's right," said Remora. "You'll do nothing. Now keep your mouth shut and watch."
"This is crazy!" said Eric as he helped Ariel search through the fireworks. He spotted another of the small gray rockets and set it beside the growing pile.
"You said that already!" said Ariel, handing a firework to Aquata.
"Then I'll say it again! It's crazy!"
"And that's why it'll work!" said Lara as she pulled up a seawater-filled bucket by a rope. She pulled her shemagh off, immersing it in the water before wringing out the excess. She wrapped it back around her neck, shivering at the chill. "They'll never see it coming!"
"And Alana won't live to see sunset if it goes wrong!" added Aquata.
Lara removed her knives and handed them to Aquata, then removed her sword and bokken as well. "It won't! Just stick to the plan and it'll go off without a hitch! Eric, make sure you build it exactly like I said!"
"You worry about the pirates and that seaclops," said Eric as Lara handed him her bokken and a length of rope. "Leave the knot tying to me!"
"Oi, what's takin' so long!?" shouted the captain. "Me knife hand's gettin' shaky! Might cut somethin' by accident!"
"Help!" cried Alana.
"Hold up, Ahab! Don't get your beard in a knot!" shouted Lara. She turned back to the others. "Remember, no matter what I say or do, don't hesitate! And don't give me any warning or we'll lose the element of surprise! Once I get Alana, have the guards start clearing out the wounded! Don't go after the pirates unless they come at you first!"
"Please be careful!" said Ariel. "I don't want either of you getting hurt!"
Lara felt odd warmth in her chest at Ariel's words. She was still getting used to having people concerned for her well-being. It felt good to know someone cared enough to ask her to be careful. It had been a long time since anyone cared that much.
"Ye're startin' to make me angry!" shouted the captain. "Now send someone out afore I–!"
"Wait!" interrupted Ariel. "Just wait! We're sending someone over now!"
"About time!"
"I guess that's my cue," said Lara. She stood up and stepped out with hands raised.
The pirates responded with about as much dignity and grace as anyone expected as Lara walked past the wounded sailors, careful to stay out of the reach of the more desperate. It pained her to ignore their pleas for help, but she forced herself to keep moving. The pirates whistled at her and made all manner of vulgar gestures, loudly shouting what they wanted to do with her in private. The seaclops eyed her curiously, uncertain of her presence or her scent. Lara remained focused on Alana and the captain. She saw Alana's face fall at the sight of her. She was hoping for someone else.
The captain gave her a once over. "Who're…wait! Ye're Lara Anglacoon, aren't ye?"
"It's Anclagon. And how do you know my name?" Lara asked, her stride more cautious as she approached the captain.
"That's close enough!" he barked. "Now stop and turn in a circle! Keep 'em hands up where I can see!"
Lara halted, turning around to show she was unarmed. "Again, how do you know my name? I don't make a habit of giving it to vermin."
"That Richard boy told us about ye," said the captain.
Lara tensed immediately. "Richard? As in Richard Avitas?"
"Aye, that's the one. He's lookin' to claim yer head after what ye did to him." The captain looked her over again. "Now I can see why. I'd be wantin' revenge meself if a skinny brothel castoff like you laid me out."
"Tell me where he is!" demanded Lara.
"Not here, and none of yer concern!" spat the captain. "Now listen up, ye freak!"
Lara's lip twitched at the insult. "Watch it, dirt bag."
"Here's me demands! I want a ship ready to sail within the hour!" continued the captain. "Then me crew and I are goin' to board and leave! Once we get past the horizon I'll dump the princess in a rowboat and we'll be on our way! If I see anyone followin' us, or any sign ye've sabotaged the ship, then I'll sick that eight-legged mongrel on ye and turn this little one into shrimp feed, ye hear!?""
"And if we refuse?" asked Lara.
The captain's face flushed. He jabbed the knifepoint under Alana's chin. The princess whimpered in terror, afraid to even swallow. "Then I'll paint the deckin' with her blood and turn the beast loose on the town!"
Lara stared at him for a moment. Then she lowered her hands and shrugged. "Fine. Kill her."
Aquata twisted a finger in her ear. Surely, she was hearing things. Lara did not just tell the captain to kill Alana! But going by the stunned expression on his and her sister's face, not to mention the pirates behind them, that was exactly what she said. Even the seaclops seemed disturbed by her words.
"What is Lara doing!?" exclaimed Aquata. She was about to run out to Lara when Ariel grabbed her skirt.
"Don't!" said Ariel. "We have to stick to the plan!"
Aquata jerked her dress free. "You heard what she said, Ariel!"
"I know! And she also said don't hesitate no matter what!"
"But she's going to get Alana killed!"
Ariel shook her head. "She won't!"
"How do you know?" demanded Aquata.
Ariel paused for a moment, trying to find the words to explain her sudden faith in Lara. Aquata hoped for something reasonable or even emotional from her baby sister, but Ariel did not fulfill her wish.
"I just do," she answered.
The pirate captain shook his head in disbelief. "I think I misheard ye, lassie! Ye mind repeatin' that for me?"
"Go ahead," Lara said. "Kill her."
"Lara, what…what are you saying?" asked Alana, her voice shaking with fear.
Lara scowled at the princess. "You're not worth the trouble, Alana. In case you've forgotten I'm not your bodyguard. And I'm definitely not your friend." She started examining her fingers, picking at a speck of dirt under her right thumbnail. "And besides, you've got five other sisters that can sit on your dad's throne. You're not even first in line. What's one less going to do? I'm sure your husband can find a new mother for your kids. Hopefully a better one."
Alana paled visibly. "Lara, you can't be serious!"
"Do ye think I'm playin' with ye!?" yelled the captain. "I'll killher! Get movin' on that ship or ye'll watch her bleed out like a gut fish!"
"No, I don't think you're playing," said Lara. "What I think is you and your crew are the dumbest, ugliest, most swill-ridden pieces of rot to ever crawl out of this stretch of water and sprout legs. And when I think about it, which is something I don't believe you're capable of…" She paused to flick a bit of dirt off her pants, eyeing the knife trembling in the captain's hands as his anger grew. "You're not in any position to be making demands."
The pirate crew started laughing, jeering at her and throwing no shortage of insults. To them it was one of the stupider things they ever heard. They had a hostage, and a princess at that! This girl was either daft or had lost her grip on reality.
The captain, however, was not so amused. "Shut yer traps, ye dogs!"
Immediately the crew went silent, wary of their captain's wrath even now.
"How do ye figure that, missy?" he asked. "In case ye haven't noticed I've got a knife at her throat and a monster waitin' on me orders!"
Lara sighed, running a hand through her hair. "I swear, it's always the same with you pirates. Three coins short of a treasure. All sail and no tackle. Full of rum and empty on reason. Blah blah blah."
"Answer me, wench!" yelled the captain.
"If you had more hostages then yes, you would have the advantage," said Lara. "You could kill a few and have spares for leverage. But you only have one, so it's really a standoff."
The captain gripped Alana tighter. "Ye're crazy, lass! Ye've got nothin' over us!"
Lara laced her hands behind her head, smirking confidently. Now she had his focus. She just needed to keep it. "We've got plenty. As long as Alana stays alive, we won't attack you because…well, you know. But we don't have to do a thing you say either."
"Ye're full of it!"
"Am I?" Lara started walking back and forth across the wharf. "If you kill her there's nothing to keep all those soldiers from rushing in and wiping you out. You're outnumbered almost three to one, and you don't have your guns anymore. Even if you did, it's not like your powder and bullets would've lasted forever."
"I still have a seaclops!" shouted the captain, desperation worming into his voice. "What do ye think their puny swords and arrows are goin' to do against that, eh!? It'll squash 'em all like ants!"
Lara looked up at the seaclops. It curled its lip, disliking her gaze. "Yeah, that's a strong seaclops all right. And it'll be tough to bring down with just 'ants'as you put it. But the thing about ants is they don't win with strength. They win with numbers." She spread her arms wide. "I don't know if you've noticed, but you're in Seahaven! You've got no ship, nowhere to go, and no one coming to rescue you. How long do you think you can last against an entire garrison of trained soldiers?"
The sound of synchronized footsteps made Lara glance to shore. A regiment of more than two hundred Seahaven soldiers was marching onto the wharf, armed with crossbows, swords, spears, and shields. There were even cannons bringing up the rear, rolled along by men while carts carried the munitions behind them.
"Sorry, make that an army of trained soldiers," said Lara as she turned back to the captain. "And believe me, that's not even a sampling of it. So tell me, how're those odds looking now?"
The captain retreated another step, his shifting eyes and the sweat on his brow telling Lara exactly what he thought of those odds. She smirked as she stretched her arms overhead, loosening up the muscles in her shoulders and back. The bluff was working. The captain and his crew were losing their nerve. More than a few of them looked like they wanted to throw down their weapons and surrender.
"But all chit-chat aside," she said, rolling her neck with a satisfying pop. "Though I'm not fond of your hostage one bit, she's still Ariel's sister. And I happen to like Ariel, so I'd rather not see her crying over a dead sibling. So here's our demands. You let Alana go, and then you and your crew throw your weapons in the water. Then you send the seaclops away and come over one at a time, where the men in uniform behind me will escort you to your new homes in the dungeon."
The captain glared with bloodshot eyes, no doubt wishing all sorts of vile things upon her. "And if we refuse?"
"Then we stay here till you all die of dehydration. But for your sakes, you better not make good on that threat to kill her. Because if you do…"
Lara lowered her hands as they clenched into fists. Her smirk vanished. Her hair bristled part way, her eyes boring into the captain's like a pair of hot drill bits. "I'll tear you apart."
The entire pirate crew shifted back, their confidence shaken at the threating edge in Lara's voice and the look in her eyes. Even the seaclops moved back slightly. The captain swallowed nervously, his legs starting to tremble. It was finally starting to dawn upon them. There would be no ship to freedom. Whether Alana lived or died, they had no hope of escape. They were trapped.
Eric finished the last knot as Ariel cut a fuse with one of Lara's knives, sticking it in the end of a rocket. "All right, that should do it," he said, leaning back to examine their creation.
Four gray, blue, green, and purple fireworks each were tied around a larger red one, forming a sort of seventeen fireworks "super rocket." The seating stick of the red firework had been tied onto Lara's bokken, the weapon acting as an aiming rail for launch while ensuring the shooter's hands were not too close when the rockets lit. It was not the most graceful creation, but Eric did not want to be nearby when it went off.
"Are you sure we should do this?" asked Eric as he fished a small box of matches from his pants, something he kept for when kingly duties kept him up late and he needed an extra candle or lantern. "This is basically a flying bomb."
"What's a bomb?" asked Aquata.
"Honestly…not completely, no," said Ariel, ignoring Aquata's question. "But we've got to try. It may be our only chance."
Eric let out a long breath, steeling himself for the next step in the plan. "All right. Then here goes something."
He reached for the firework but Aquata stopped him. "No, I'll do it."
"Are you sure?" asked Eric, hesitant to hand over such an explosive creation.
"Do you think you can aim with your ribs like that?" she asked in return.
It only took Eric a moment to decide Aquata was right. With his busted ribs he was not going to be able to hold the rocket up for long, much less move quickly or be steady.
"I hope your aim is good," he said as she took hold of the bokken.
Aquata looked down the faux sword, checking its straightness. "You wouldn't be saying that if you'd seen my father and I shoot shells with the trident."
The captain clutched Alana tighter, sweat dripping down his brow. Anxiety was giving way to full blown panic. "Enough of yer jabberin'! Get that ship ready now or I'll kill her!"
Lara bent her knees slightly, ready to spring at the captain if she had to. This was starting to get even more dangerous. If the captain panicked completely, he could end up killing Alana on impulse.
What was taking those three so long?
Eric struck the match and lit the fuse. Immediately it started hissing, throwing off smoke and sparks. Aquata flinched as they hit her skin but kept hold of the bokken.
"Get ready!" said Eric. "Cover your ears once it goes! It's going to be loud!"
Aquata nodded, moving to glance around her cover. She held the bokken in her hands, watching in the corner of her eye as the fire worked its way up the fuse. She had to wait till just before the rocket lit or the pirates would see what she was doing. That would leave only moments to aim once she broke cover.
"This better work, Lara," she muttered. "Because if anything happens to Alana it won't be pirates you have to worry about!"
Lara's sharp hearing picked up the hiss of the fuse, as did the seaclops. It looked to where Ariel, Eric, and Aquata were hiding. Lara hoped they had followed her directions, or else this would turn very ugly very fast.
"Did ye hear me!?" shouted the captain. "Get yer scrawny rear movin' and get me that ship!"
"Over my dead body!" spat Lara. "Now let her go!"
"Then how about over her body instead!? Or better yet…!" The captain placed the knife behind Alana's ear. "How about a piece of it!?"
Aquata waited till the firework was a finger's length from lighting. She stepped out and pointed the bokken strait at the seaclops. A second later the fire hit the ignition charge and the firework shot off the bokken in a shower of sparks and smoke, singing her hands and dress.
But instead of going straight for the seaclops it started corkscrewing through the air, circling round and round in a contrail of white as it sailed for the pirates.
Aquata's breath hitched. It was on a collision course with Lara!
"Aquata, hide!" shouted Ariel, scampering over to her and pulling her back.
Aquata clapped her hands to her ears as she fell on top of Ariel, praying to anyone listening for a miracle.
Threads of orange light appeared on the firework, its flight suddenly stabilizing as it flew.
"Alana, cover your ears!" shouted Lara, dropping to one knee as the firework sailed over her head. She covered her ears and closed her eyes, bracing for the explosion.
The sight of a firework coming at him startled the captain enough that he forgot about harming Alana. He released her hair and wrapped an arm around her neck, pulling her aside as the rocket shot over him and the heads of his crew. The seaclops swung a tentacle to knock it away, alarmed by the loud flying smoking sparking thing.
DA-BOOOM!
The red firework burst into a peony of flashing crimson stars and powder smoke. The blast caused the smaller fireworks to ignite, which began swimming through the air in winding circles like startled fish. The fireworks flashed brilliant strobes of silver, emerald, sapphire, and amethyst while screaming like banshees before exploding. Stars and sparks showered all over the pirates, singing skin and igniting clothes while enveloping them in smoke. Others were blinded and deafened by the blast and lights, knocking into each other in disorientation. The seaclops howled in pain as its sensitive ears rang like bells, its eye shut tight as colors flashed across its vision. Its tentacles thrashed around the dock angrily as it backed away, knocking pirates over as it felt for a way back to water. The captain dropped his knife, yelling profanity with gusto but keeping hold of Alana.
It was exactly what Lara wanted. She had her opening.
She scrambled into a run, legs pumping furiously as she dashed. She leaned forward to build her speed, eyes fixed on the seaclops as it flailed. She ducked a blue shrieking rocket that zipped by her ear then went into a crouch right in front of the pirates. She bent her knees low as magic flowed into her legs, pushing their strength well beyond any human's capability. She released the building power in an explosive leap, cracking the boards underfoot as she shot over the heads of the pirates straight at the seaclops. She narrowly avoided one of its tentacles as she flew towards its head, throwing herself into a fast spin as she pulled her right leg in. Her leg grew hot beneath her clothes. With a loud shout she twisted hard and lashed out with a devastating kick, burying her heel into the seaclops' jaw.
There was a loud crack from the impact, the beast's head snapping back. The seaclops staggered backwards, its entire brain rattled as its eye rolled up in its head. It tottered off the edge of the wharf, unconscious before it fell into the sea with a loud splash.
Lara landed in a low crouch, rolling away from a pirate that came stumbling towards her before kicking him off into the water. Her foot ached from how hard she hit the seaclops, but it was out of the picture. She turned and ran back the way she came, weaving through the smoke, sparks, and pirates for her next target.
Alana's had no idea what this thing was that came flying towards them, but she had enough sense to do what Lara said. She clapped her hands over her ears and closed her eyes just before the firework exploded. She avoided the brunt of the dazing blast, but she was still seeing flashes of color and her ears were ringing deafeningly.
The captain's grip loosened, blinded and deafened by the explosion. Alana wriggled in his grasp, taking hold of his arm and pulling it free. Alerted to his captive escaping he clinched tight around her neck, but not fast enough. Alana bit into his arm with all her strength. The captain hollered in pain as her teeth dug in hard, breaking the skin through his jacket. It tasted even worse than the blood, but she did not let up.
"Ye sea-swimmin' tramp! Ye'll pay for that!" He drew another knife and raised it high, intent on stabbing her through the neck.
"You're the one who's gonna pay!"
Alana whipped her head around, looking over the captain's shoulder. Though the color flashes she saw Lara bring her elbow down on his right shoulder. There was a crunch, Lara's elbow sinking down into the captain as though he were deflating. Before Alana could register what the sound was Lara grabbed the captain's knife hand, twisted around, and brought the arm down over her shoulder. The elbow bent the wrong way before she twisted his wrist with a sharp crack.
The captain forgot Alana completely. He screamed in agony, releasing her and dropping the knife. The princess fell down gasping for air, the sulfur-laced fumes stinging her throat and eyes.
Lara was not done with the captain. She spun back to face him, taking hold of his jacket in both hands. She pulled him in as she drove her knee into his groin and then unleashed a vicious uppercut into his chin that lifted him off his feet. She twisted in a full circle, letting out a yell as she nailed his chest with a kick that sent him flying into the smoke. Moments later there was a sound of something hitting wood, followed by a splash.
The acrid fumes of the fireworks burned Alana's throat and nose, making her gag and cough. Her eyes stung and watered, the smoke making them bloodshot. She breathed hard and fast, trying to get air but only sucking in more smoke. She felt dizzy and sick, as though she might pass out at any given moment.
Suddenly something wet and heavy smothered Alana's face. She panicked, trying frantically to pull her attacker off before she suffocated.
"Alana, stop! It's me!"
Alana stopped struggling. She opened her eyes, seeing a blurry image of Lara in front of her. "Lar–*cough cough* Lara!?"
"Keep that on your face!" Lara said, taking Alana's hand and pressing it to the damp cloth. "Now run!"
"What!?" Alana yelled, unable to hear over her ringing ears.
"Run! Come on!" said Lara even louder, grabbing Alana's other arm and pulling her along.
Alana ran. She stumbled. She staggered. Twice she almost tripped. But she ran as fast as she could. She could barely hear over the ringing. Her eyes and throat were raw, and her lungs craved freedom from the restriction the wet shemagh placed on them. But she dared not remove it lest she inhale the smoke again. Everything was a blur. She had no idea where shore or water was, but she ran anyway. She kept her eyes as squinted as possible, relying on Lara to guide them out of the noxious cloud. The smoke seemed to go on forever, filled with dancing shadows and discordant voices.
Then they were out. The dim smoky world abruptly gave way to blue skies and light. She dropped the shemagh, hacking out lingering smoke. She never thought it could feel so wonderful to breathe air. She snagged her foot on a board and tripped, but Lara caught her and swept her up.
"Alana!"
Alana blinked rapidly, her vision starting to come back as Ariel and Aquata ran towards them. Aquata was carrying some sort of black stick in her hands. Seahaven soldiers and Glowerhaven sailors were rushing to the wounded, quickly moving them away from the danger.
"Ariel! Aqua–!" She coughed again, her whole body heaving with the effort. "Aquata!"
Lara extricated herself as Alana all but fell into Ariel and Aquata's arms, the two holding her so tight it hurt. Alana returned it as best she could as they sank to their knees. She felt such a sense of relief she thought she would cry, not aware she already was. She was safe. She was alive.
Ariel held her sister as close and secure as she could, tears of untold joy and relief leaking from her eyes. Alana was safe. Her big sister was safe. She was in her arms, smelling of pirate stink, gun smoke, and seawater, but alive. Once again, Ariel almost lost a precious member of her family. But once again she had not, and Alana was still here with them.
She opened her eyes, smiling up to Lara as she stood over them. "Lara, thank y–!"
Her voice caught in her throat as she saw movement behind Lara. The smoke was being carried away by the sea breezes. The seaclops was gone somehow, no doubt the cause of that loud splash she heard. But the pirates were still there. Already they were recovering, clearing their lungs as they regained their bearings and senses. She saw and heard weapons being drawn and burning clothes stamped out amidst curses and furious shouting. She saw dirty livid faces devoid of mercy.
A pirate stumbled out of the smoke towards them, a cutlass in hand and coughing as he rubbed his eyes on his sleeve. He lowered his arm, shaking his head and blinking as he focused on Lara.
"You!" His face twisted with hatred and wrath as he glared at her. "You witch! I'll kill you for that!"
"Where is she!?" shouted someone within the smoke. "Where's that yellow-eyed tramp!?"
"She's over here!" called back the pirate. "Shore-side, and she's unarmed!"
The pirates came stumbling out of the smoke, locking onto Lara with no less vile intent in their faces. Tarnished and rusted weapons were drawn one after another, as eager for blood as their owners.
Fear jolted Ariel like a bee sting. "Aquata!"
"I know!" said Aquata, helping the still weakened Alana to her feet and moving towards the guards retreating with the last of the wounded. "Come on, Alana! Just a bit further!"
Ariel grabbed Lara's shemagh off the ground and started after them. "Lara, let's go! We've got to get out of here!"
"Get back to Melody."
Ariel skidded over the boards she stopped so fast. She turned around and saw Lara calmly pick up her bokken, dropped by Aquata in her elation to have her sister safe.
"What?" said Ariel, not understanding Lara's reply.
"Go back where you were hiding and stay there," said Lara, straightening up with unnerving slowness. "I'll deal with the pirates."
Ariel started back towards her. "Lara, what are you–?"
Lara only glanced at Ariel, but that one look silenced her voice and froze her in her tracks. The anger she saw earlier was back, and even stronger. Lara's braid came undone as her hair started to bristle, her left hand clenched so tight around the bokken her knuckles were white. The other formed a fist as her eyes took on that luminous quality again.
Ariel stepped back. What was this feeling inside her? It was not the sureness she felt when Lara asked for her trust. It was an instinctual feeling, as though she had suddenly found herself in front of an enraged beast. Lara emitted danger like a starving mako shark, fury rising off her like steam from a boiling pot. It was the same feeling Ariel felt in the ballroom when Lara had Alana by the throat.
Lara frightened her.
"There's the queen!" shouted the pirate. He ran for them, cutlass in his hands and murder on his face. "Come on! If we kill her, they'll have to take us back!"
His comrades needed no encouragement. They raised a savage cry, metal flashing as they followed after him. The guards began forming a skirmish line across the wharf, readying their weapons. Swordsmen knelt as archers stood behind them, leveling crossbows above their heads. The pirates grew ever closer, their stampede making the wharf vibrate. The lead pirate ran even faster, widening the gap between him and the crew. A crossbow bolt went flying out, shooting high over Lara's head towards the guards. One of them raised his shield, the bolt embedding in it.
"Lara, get Ariel out of there!" shouted Eric from behind the soldiers. "They can't fire till you're clear!"
"Lara, we have to go!" pleaded Ariel, torn between survival telling her to run and her heart saying not to leave without Lara. "Please!"
Lara remained where she was, sheathing her bokken as she reached for her goggles. "No matter what happens…"
The lead pirate was almost on Lara, sprinting the remaining paces as he raised his sword. "You're mine!"
A/N: "Sell Your Soul" by Hollywood Undead
Lara pulled her goggles down over her eyes, her right foot sliding back a step. "Don'tinterfere."
Ariel bolted towards Lara, her heart winning out over survival as the pirate closed on his quarry. "Lara, look ou–!"
Lara spun around and seized the pirate's wrist, clutching it tight as she kicked hard into his gut. His body jerked up into the air, eyes bugging wide as his feet left the ground. He gagged and coughed as he went slack, hanging limp from Lara's grasp. She grabbed his sword and ripped it out of his hands, throwing it off the wharf.
With a furious shout Lara drew her fist back and punched the pirate straight in the chest, driving him into the wharf. There was a loud cracking noise, though no one but Lara could tell if it was from breaking boards or breaking bones. She then grabbed both his ankles and swung him over her shoulder like a sack of rice, smashing him face-first into the decking. Then she swung him back the other way. One, two, three, four, five more times she swung him about like a wet rag before stopping, her shoulders heaving with hard breaths. The pirate lay motionless, his body bloody and broken.
The pirates halted their charge, shocked by the unreserved savagery with which Lara dispatched their crewmate. Ariel stared in shock, eyes wide and mouth agape much like everyone else. She had never seen anyone, let alone anything subjected to such unreserved brutality. Were it not for the rise and fall of the pirate's chest she would have thought Lara killed him. He coughed, groaning at the pain it caused his broken ribs.
Lara released one of the pirate's legs, lifting him by the other to dangle in front of her as her hair bristled in full. A dangerous growl came from her throat, like an angry wolf before it attacks. "You know what the difference between rapists, murderers, thieves, and pirates is?"
Ariel did not answer, not sure who Lara intended the question for and afraid to speak.
"Rapists, murderers, and thieves are just that," continued Lara. "But pirates are all three!"
Suddenly Lara spun and flung the pirate back at his accomplices. He flew straight as an arrow, barely giving those in front time to move aside. Those not fast enough found themselves knocked down like bowling pins till the pirate came to a stop.
"Ariel, get behind the soldiers and stay there," growled Lara as she drew her bokken.
Ariel did not need to be told twice. Not with Lara's voice like that. She turned and ran fast as she could. The soldiers briefly parted for her as she sprinted past them. Eric ran/hobbled over to her, hugging her close despite the pain it caused his ribs.
"Ariel, what's gotten into Lara?" asked Eric nervously.
Ariel looked over the guards' shoulders to Lara. Her hair played in the breeze, not a long sleek brunette trail but wild and angry. Was it her imagination, or was there a tremor in Lara's body? Not of fear, but barely contained rage as though she were holding in an earthquake.
Ariel had a terrible feeling Lara was about to unleash that quake.
Lara lost control of her anger the moment she beat that pirate to a pulp. The heat of it was eating at her conscience, taking hold of her thoughts and pumping fury-driven strength into her body and magic. An imperceptible cloud of dust and splinters lifted off the boards around her.
She could hear that little voice in her head that knew right from wrong begging and pleading for her to calm down and listen before she did something rash. But Lara ignored it, not interested in anything it had to say. She listened to it when she faced Richard, but that was different. She learned of his crimes. In the end he got what he deserved, even if the enemy saw fit to give back what had been taken from him.
However, when it came to pirates Lara was more than willing to blur the line between justice and vengeance. Of all the criminals in the world, Lara hated pirates most of all. Despised their very existence. Wished ill on everyone who bore the title. She hated, hated, hated pirates.
And she was going to show these ones just how much.
"You want a fight, you flea-ridden sea rats!?" she yelled, mouth contorted in a fierce snarl. She cricked her neck side-to-side, popping the joints louder than her shoulders as she rolled them. "Then it's a fight you'll get!"
She stepped towards the pirates.
"You little –!" A pirate trained his crossbow on her and fired, sending an arrow straight for her head.
PANG! Lara swung her bokken up, knocking the arrow aside. Another arrow came at her stomach, and again her wooden sword intercepted it. A third came for her face, and a third time she deflected the arrow. She lowered her bokken so the tip dragged along the boards, producing a scraping sound as she approached.
"F-fire!" shouted a pirate up front. "Take her down!"
More arrows came at her. Lara swung her bokken true and fast, batting each one aside without breaking her stride. Her body felt hot. Her pulse rose, spreading adrenaline through her system as time started to slow. She forgot about Ariel and Melody. She forgot about Eric and Aquata and Alana. She forgot about the guards and the town behind her. She was focused only on the pirates.
One of the pirates grabbed a barrel of lantern oil and cracked the top with his knife before pushing it over, spilling out the flammable substance. He kicked the barrel away, sending it rolling across the wharf as it left a thick trail of oil in its wake. He reached into his pants and pulled out a thin shard of flint.
"Let's see you block this!" he yelled. He knelt and sparked the flint over the oil, igniting it. The oil burst into flames, creating a tall blazing wall between the pirates and Lara. The flames reached high above her head, blocking the men from sight. Still she walked towards them, undeterred by the fire. More oil barrels came rolling out as the pirates sent them at her, spreading flames across the wharf as they went. Lara ignored them even as they went by her, encasing her in flames on all sides and blocking her from sight of the royals and guards. One barrel came straight at her. She swung her bokken up, smashing the barrel in half. It sprayed oil over her legs and torso. Then she stepped into the fire, the oil on her catching igniting.
She felt the heat as she walked. She felt it licking at her skin and clothes as it fed on the oil. The flames wrapped around her arms and legs like snakes. Yet they did nothing to her. She was not burned or singed or blackened. The fire did no harm to her in the slightest. If anything, she felt invigorated. Fed. Energized.
"Grenades!" someone shouted from the crew. Lara heard the hiss of fuses and the rolling of metal over wood, and then explosions sounded around her. She felt shrapnel tear into her skin and flesh, but she did not stop.
The pirates expected Lara to burn to death or be ripped apart by their grenades. No human could survive both. So their total shock and terror was justified when Lara emerged from the flames before them, fire dwindling on her skin as the shrapnel wounds rapidly closed over. They backed away from her, weapons trembling as she kept walking towards them.
A pirate raised a crossbow and shot at Lara. The bolt struck her in the shoulder. She grunted and stepped back. Then she reached up and pulled the arrow out, breaking the shaft in half before tossing it aside. A tongue of fire sprang out of the burning wall behind her, streaming into the wound. Seconds later the fire disappeared, leaving no trace of the trauma. Her shoulder was completely healed.
"She…she's a monster!" one of them shouted.
Lara snarled angrily at the pirates, causing them to flinch back. Then she crouched and sprang at them, becoming a hurtling streak. The pirates were caught off guard by the speed she moved with, weapons and nerves half ready for her.
Her first victim barely had his sword raised when she hit him, throwing her shoulder into his chest like a meteor plowing into the earth. The effect was the same, crushing his ribs and sending pirates flying as she drove deep into their ranks with her human shield. She skidded to a stop and dropped him, gripping her bokken with both hands as she spun and swung it up into a pirate's chin. His jaw and most of his teeth broke as he went flipping over the crew's heads before landing splayed on the wharf.
"Raaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!"
Lara swung her bokken into a spear thrust at her side, splintering the weapon before she turned and delivered a skull-cracking slash into her attacker's head. She went with the turn and brought her wooden sword down on another pirate's shoulder, shattering his collarbones and a pair of ribs. She turned her side to him and thrust her heel into his chest like a captive bolt, sending him shooting backwards and off the wharf along with two others.
A fist with spiked brass knuckles came at Lara from the corner of her eye. She evaded the punch and then another, drawing her elbow back and slamming it into the pirate's gut. She seized his outstretched arm and hit his throat and nose in quick succession with the hilt of her bokken. He fell back hacking and clutching his throat as blood spurted out his nostrils, only for Lara to hook a foot behind his heel. She pulled her bokken back and struck his chest dead center without holding back, driving him into the wharf with such force it cracked the boards and all of his ribs.
A cutlass came down at her head, but Lara destroyed the sword with a quick slash from her bokken. She threw a hard kick into the pirate's hip, breaking it before she knocked him into an oncoming trio of pirates. She turned around and ducked another pirate's sword, crippling him when a swing from her bokken broke both his knees. She stuck her foot out and caught his head where he fell, only to kick him into the air. He hit the top of a pylon and bounced into the water.
A pirate grabbed Lara's hair, jerking her back towards his knife. "Got you, little bit–ugh!"
Lara straightened a leg and swung it straight back, her heel catching him in the groin and lifting him off his feet. His eyes crossed over and his voice went five pitches higher as she turned on him, grabbing his own hair and pulling him down to drive her knee into his face. His head whipped back and he released her hair. She kept hold of his hair and kicked him hard, sending him into a pair of pirates and knocking them off the wharf.
Before another pirate could attack Lara went back on the offensive. She switched hands on the bokken and grabbed a pirate's oncoming kick with one hand, stopping it dead. She drew her bokken back and swung it into his leg, breaking it completely. She ducked a sword for her head and swung at the kicker's other leg, taking out his ankle before she turned and stabbed her bokken into the sword swinger's shoulder. Though it lacked a killing point, the strength she stabbed with caused it to pierce through his shoulder. He dropped his sword, screaming as he clutched the bleeding wound as she pulled her bokken out and rapped the kicking pirate's head into unconscious oblivion.
Her ears told her someone was rushing from behind. She threw herself into a backflip, catching the pirate she just stabbed under the chin and sending him flipping over like a tossed coin. She brought her foot down on her new attacker's head, knocking him out. She set her palm down to catch herself, but slipped on a patch of blood. Her chin jarred hard on the hard wood, rattling her brain as she belly-flopped ungracefully on the wharf.
"She's down!" one of the pirates shouted. "Get her!"
Lara glanced up to see a pirate coming at her with a battle axe, swinging to cleave her head. Lara rolled to the side before he struck, whipping her legs around to catch an approaching pirate's calf with her feet. A sharp push and pull and the bones broke in half. She twisted herself into a handstand, windmilling her legs around to knock away the weapons of four pirates that got too close before falling into a leg sweep and tripping all of them. She spun around once more and flipped herself upright, only to have an arm wrap around her neck.
"I've got her!" shouted the pirate.
Lara snarled as she drove her elbow into the pirate's side, shattering ribs and loosening his hold. She reached back and seized his nose, cracking it with a sharp twist.
"Augh! My nose!" The pirate immediately released her, clutching his ruined nose as it bled. Lara threw herself into a spin, snapping her leg out and kicking him in the side of the face. He spun around like a top, spitting out teeth before falling to the ground. Keeping her momentum going Lara spun and kicked again at an incoming pirate. However, this one was not so green in fighting. He anticipated her kick and backed just out of her reach, seizing hold of her foot. Lara caught a glimpse of him sneering at her, exposing his many gold teeth.
A moment later Lara scattered those teeth over the wharf when she leapt and kicked with her otherleg in midair. Her boot collided with his cheek and he released her. Lara landed and swept her leg out, tripping up another pirate before she swung her bokken into his face. She faced the pirate she just kicked and rushed him, punching him in the gut as hard as she could with her shin. He lost his lunch, his breath, his consciousness, and two of his vertebra at once.
Still the pirates came at her, driven by desperation, anger, and foolish arrogance. A pirate attacked her head on, sword raised to cut her down. Lara rushed him and threw a spinning kick into his stomach. The pirate was blown away as though a cannonball struck him, knocking down everyone behind him before he smashed into a crate.
A pirate stabbed at Lara's head from the side, catching her cheek and slicing it open. She tossed her bokken straight up and seized his wrist as her other hand grabbed his neck. She wrenched hard, dislocating his shoulder before she drove her palm into his elbow and broke it through. The pirate screamed, staggering back with his arm dangling limp.
"You're not done yet!" shouted Lara. She seized the pirate's knife and let loose on him in a blur. Blood flew as she cut, sliced, and slashed all over him. She avoided hitting anything life threatening, the voice of right and wrong at least keeping her from breaking that promise. She kept cutting at him, taking away his ability to defend himself with each swing of the knife.
The pirate fell to his knees in front of her, holding his usable arm up like a shield. "Stop! I surrender! Mercy! Mercy!"
Lara froze mid slash. This scene was familiar. She had seen this before, only…
Lara clutched the captain's hand as she was held aloft by the neck. Her feet kicked empty air, her voice and breath choked off. Her lungs burned, screaming for oxygen as her vision started to tunnel on the captain's blurry face.
"You brat!" The captain threw her to the deck without hesitation or remorse, striking her head on the damp boards. Color and pain flashed over her vision, and then again when a boot connected with her gut. Lara felt herself flying in the air for a moment, weightless and in pain. Then she hit the stairs and went tumbling down, landing splayed out at the bottom. The pain in her head and stomach was now accompanied by growing bruises all over her body.
"Ooh, she gonna get it now!" said the skipper, the rest of the crew jeering at her or egging the captain on.
Boots came down the stairs as she got up. Suddenly a heel planted itself in the middle of her back, pinning her down.
"Do you think I'm an idiot!?" snapped the captain, digging the boot painfully between her shoulder blades. "That I wouldn't figure out it was you!?"
"But it wasn't me!" cried Lara as she tried to crawl away. The boot pressed harder on her, squeezing tears out of her eyes. "I didn't touch the rudder chain! I swear! I didn't do anything!"
The boot lifted and stomped down like a hammer, forcing the air from her lungs. Her ribs screamed in protest as each successive stomp pushed them to the edge of breaking.
"Liar!" shouted the captain. "I know it was you! Spit it out, or so help me I'll pound it out of your corpse!"
"It was me! I'm sorry!" cried Lara, willing to say anything to make the pain stop. "I did it! I'm sorry! Mercy! I'll never do it again, I swear! I'm sorry!"
The stomping ceased only to be replaced by the captain hauling her upright by her hair. "Not as sorry as you're going to be! Horace!"
A pudgy pirate with a bandana over one eye stepped forward. "Cap'n?"
"Show the brat some 'mercy' for me, will you?" said the captain, tossing Lara at him.
Lara's stomach twisted into a knot at the wicked grin that spread over Horace's face as he said, "With pleasure."
He grabbed Lara's hair and wrenched her away, completely unmoved by her screaming or pleas as he dragged her away. The captain smirked, watching Lara till she was hauled below decks for whatever Horace intended.
A sharp pain over Lara's middle ended the memory. The pirate had pulled a knife from his side and slashed across her stomach. Blood seeped down her abdomen as the pirate made to stab her.
The pain and memory made Lara's anger burn even hotter than before. She seized the pirate's wrist and stomped a boot into his shoulder, mashing it to the wharf and crushing it. He screamed even louder when she cracked his wrist to pieces.
"Here's your mercy!" she yelled, seizing his neck. She pulled him in and drove her forehead into his face, knocking him back down. She grabbed his ankles and then threw him up, passing her bokken as he rose high above, momentarily lost in the glare of the sun.
Lara crouched down and jumped after him, seizing her bokken in midair. As she came level with him she twisted herself into a spin, whipping her bokken around and into his gut. The pirate went flying straight down, hitting the wharf and breaking through the boards to crash into the sea.
The pirate's backed away from Lara as she landed, staggered by how quickly and utterly without mercy Lara devastated the man. They formed a ring around her, blades now held in trembling hands as they waited for someone else to offer themselves up as a punching bag.
Lara growled in her throat, panting hard with bared teeth. Blood flecked her skin and clothes, smeared or running with her sweat. She felt her cheek and stomach stitching back together, the skin returned to its unblemished state in seconds and shaking the pirates further. Her anger made her blood rush like a drug, driving her further into rage.
One of the pirates backed away, his chipped cutlass rattling in his quaking hands.
Glare flickered over Lara's goggles. "You won't get away from me!" She raised her bokken and stabbed it into the wharf, piercing the board like crusty snow. She clenched her fists tight, cracking the knuckles. "I'll crush you! Every last one!"
The little girl sat on the edge of the roof, arms wrapped around her legs while her chin rested on her knees. Her teal eyes looked over the brawl on the wharf, her long bone-white hair spilling across the tiles behind her. She wore a simple blue and white dress, her delicate bare feet suffering not the slightest discomfort from the blistering heat of the sun baked roof tiles. Her lips were in a smile, deceptively innocent in its sincerity as she watched Lara fight.
Her smile widened as the brunette slammed her fist into a pirate's gut and then uppercut his jaw, finishing him off with a bone crushing straight to his chest that sent him rolling off the end of the wharf. The fight was half a mile from her perch, but the distance was nothing to the girl's senses. Her vision magnified the image without loss of acuity or depth, making it as though she were seated right next to the action. She saw each strand of Lara's hair as it whipped out behind her. She heard each breaking bone and cry of pain. She could smell the scent of blood mixing with the sea air and oil smoke.
"Ooh…now that had to hurt," she said to herself as Lara threw a pirate in the air and jumped after him, flipping over to kick him back into the wharf and then land on him. "You broke half his spine with that. But try for his skull next time."
A shadow passed over her. She looked up and saw a gull circling above. The bird took notice of her as though she had physically touched it. It squawked in alarm, feathers flying off as it flew away as fast as possible. The girl smirked, amused the bird had taken so long to notice her given she was out in the open. She looked back to the pirates as Lara sent yet another one flying into the water.
"I see you're taking this no killing thing seriously," she said, shifting into a cross-legged position and resting her chin in her hands. "You could've broken all their necks by now if you wanted."
Lara leapt and drove her knee into a pirate's face, flipping herself forward and bringing her heel down on another's head.
The girl's smirk turned into a full grin. "Come on, Lara. Show those witches what you can really do!"
When Lara set her bokken aside in favor of fists and feet, some of the pirates felt a restoration to their black-hearted bravery. What sort of person, much less a woman, would be so brazen and dumb as to fight so many without a weapon? She did not even have armor to protect her from their blades!
As they were discovering, they were the ones who needed armor.
Lara grabbed a pirate's wrists and threw herself into a sideways spin, twisting his arms around one another and breaking them. She pulled her leg up and kicked him hard in the chest, sending him rolling off into the sea.
A pirate came at her from behind with a kick, a knife blade sticking out the tip of his boot. Lara ducked his kick and grabbed his ankle, swinging him over and slamming him on the deck. She twisted his ankle hard, breaking it with a snap like a dry twig underfoot.
"Got ye now!" cackled a pirate as he came at Lara's side with a harpoon.
Lara wove to the side as the rusty harpoon went past her, sticking another man in the thigh. She twisted her hip and buried the ball of her foot in his gut. He went sailing up and broke through the railing of a ship. She whipped the same foot back in an arc and struck the harpooned man across the jaw, knocking him out cold. Another pirate tried to stab her face with his dirk, but she ducked him and punched his stomach. He doubled over and she grabbed his hair, driving her elbow into his face and then his temple.
A pirate with a heavy club took a swing at her. Lara pulled the pirate whose face she had demolished into the path of the club, causing it to clobber him on the shoulder. She cast him aside and struck with her foot like a snake, hitting both the attacker's knees. The pirate bent forward howling in agony and was met with her own knee, setting him standing for a split second. Lara spun and slammed her heel into his chest, sending him tumbling away.
A large pirate grabbed Lara's hair from behind, preparing to stab her. "Now I got–argh!"
Lara stomped on his foot with all the restraint of a dropped anvil, crushing it and the board beneath. The pain made him drop his knife and Lara's hair. She grabbed the fingers of his left hand, sharply bending them back with unpleasant pops and cracks. Then she threw herself into a front flip at an oncoming pirate, bringing a heel down on his head like a sledgehammer while twisting the other's arm out of its socket. She landed and spun, her leg lashing out in a kick that sent the dislocated pirate rolling away with a broken jaw.
A pirate leapt over his fallen comrades and slashed at Lara's head with a sword. She retreated back a step, but the blade managed to cut her cheek. She snarled in anger at being nicked as he followed through with a kick, a poisoned blade sticking out of the toe. Lara caught the man's foot in one hand and crushed it. He screamed, swinging his sword desperately to make her release him. Lara retreated back and pulled him into a full split, tearing the muscles in his groin and making him drop the sword.
Two pirates charged her from behind, not having learned caution from watching her demolish the others. Lara gripped the split pirate's calf and swung him in an arc, sweeping her would-be attackers aside. All three slammed into the side of a ship before falling into the water.
Another saw an opportunity to attack and threw a roundhouse kick at her head. Lara countered by throwing a hook kick into his oncoming leg, turning the man's attack against him. She spun with the kick, throwing the pirate to the ground and trapping his leg between her thighs, taking hold of his foot. His eyes widened in fear before Lara twisted her hips and his foot to the side, breaking the pirate's leg and ankle. He screamed as she released him, clutching the now useless limb before she kicked the back of his head.
Yet another pirate charged her, this one wielding a spear. He stabbed at her chest, but Lara sidestepped the thrust with ease and grabbed his face, sweeping his feet and slamming his head against the wharf. Before he could go unconscious she drew her fist back and slammed it into this chest, a loud crunching noise signaling his ribs had been pulverized.
A pirate with a gaffing hook met Lara's heel when she front flipped into him, stomping the weapon down with one foot before the other found his collarbone. The fight left him and he collapsed, yelling profanity at the top of his lungs until Lara stomped on his ribcage. Another pirate came at her with a knife, but Lara quickly ducked under his punch and swept his legs out. She spun with the sweep and drove her heel into his lower back, flipping him onto his front. Lara rebounded off her strike and swept her leg out and up before bringing her heel straight down on his chest.
Ariel kept the shemagh pressed against Alana's neck as they hid with Aquata behind the wine barrels. Eric sat nearby trying to wake Melody, who seemed determined to stay asleep. At least she was unharmed. The wounded sailors and bystanders had been taken to shore, where carts waited to whisk them to the hospital. Soldiers had taken boats to the water, fishing out the pirates before they could drown or swim away.
Ariel had no idea what was happening behind the line of guards working to douse the fire, but going by the sounds it was nothing she wanted to see. The wet smacks of punches, Lara's angry yelling, the pirate's screams of pain, the clatter of metal, and gut-wrenching sound of snapping bones were continuous from beyond the flames. She could only imagine what Lara was doing to those men.
Alana coughed, wincing as it irritated her throat.
"Any better?" asked Aquata.
"Yes *cough*. A bit," said Alana, her voice raspy from the smoke. "How does it look?"
Ariel gently removed the shemagh from her sister's neck. The cut was pink and moist, and then quickly turned red as blood flowed back into it. She cringed before pressing the shemagh back.
"Is it bad?" asked Alana.
Ariel managed to smile for her, not wanting to cause worry. "No. It'll be fine."
A groan from behind made the sisters turn to a pair of guards carrying a pirate between them. Ariel gasped when she saw his face, or what was left of it. It was caked in blood, his eyes swollen shut and nose bent to the side. His arms had an unnatural bend above the elbow.
Aquata gulped. "Is he dead?"
As though answering her question the pirate coughed, groaning painfully as his head lolled to the side.
"Doesn't *cough* look like it," said Alana.
Ariel swallowed nervously, watching as the guards carried the crippled man away. The few pirates that had been captured so far all bore those sorts of wounds. What in the world was happening out there?
Suddenly the sounds of fighting stopped. Everyone paused at the sudden quiet, unsettled by how fast it ended. All that remained were the groans and cries of the beaten pirates, the splashing from below, and the dull growl of the dying fire as it was extinguished.
Aquata looked to Ariel. "Do you think Lara's…?"
"Only one way to know." Ariel rose and went to the guards, Aquata following behind as a guard took over Alana's care. They walked around another pirate being hauled off. The line of guards turned to them, saluting sharply.
"Is it over?" asked Ariel.
"Yes, your majesty," said the guard before her. "The fire is almost out."
"And Lara? What about Lara? Is she all right?"
The guards looked between each other with hesitancy. It only served to make Ariel more anxious. "What's happened? Is Lara hurt?"
The guard shifted on his feet. "Miss Anclagon is…she's…"
Ariel had moved past anxiety to fearing the worst. She pushed between the guards to the other side.
A line of blackened wood stretched across the wharf, small tongues of flame lingering as they tried to cling to life on the wood. There was not a pirate left standing behind it. They were strewn about like leaves in the fall, alive but wishing otherwise. Not one was free of some horrific or disabling injury. Limbs were bent in unnatural directions and faces were bloody and bruised. Teeth were missing and weapons were broken in half. Crates had been smashed, and nearby ships had bloody smears on their sides.
Lara was alive, but now Ariel saw the reason for the guard's hesitancy.
She walked towards them slowly, her bristled hair swayed with the breeze. Her knuckles and elbows were red from striking. The knees of her pants were stained dark. Blood was speckled all over her, along with two large smears across her stomach and cheek. Her shoulders heaved with her breaths, sunlight reflecting off her goggles. Her bokken was clutched in one hand, blood dripping off the tip.
For a moment Ariel thought she was looking over a battlefield, Lara the lone survivor of a horrible war surrounded by the corpses of the slain. She defeated them. Lara defeated all of the pirates! More than that, she obliterated them! A single woman barely out of her teens, using only a wooden sword and her bare fists, brought down a seaclops and more than three score of cutthroat and heavily armed men. Ariel believed Lara to be a competent fighter after witnessing the tournament, but she never imagined her to be this powerful.
Lara drew her bokken back and swung it down, scattering blood off her weapon. Ariel could hear it cutting the air with how hard she swung.
Aquata squeezed past the guards. Her reaction was no less than Ariel's when she saw the blood-stained woman coming towards them. "Is that…Lara?"
Ariel could not fault Aquata for the question. She was wondering the same thing. The Lara she knew was not this intimidating. She was not this vicious. She laughed. She smiled. She enjoyed the company of children, and they hers. She ate as though a famine was coming, and her wit was quick and sharp. She made terrible puns and tried to be witty. Was this creature of battle and fury walking towards them really the same person?
"Lara?" called Ariel. "Are you okay?"
Lara stopped in the middle of the burned wharf, smoke wafting around her. She stared at Ariel for a moment, appearing confused to who had called her. Then she shook her head as though waking from sleepwalking in a strange place. She sheathed her bokken through her belt, hair settling down as the tension and anger left her. The intimidating aura about her dissolved, her whole body relaxing as she lifted her goggles off.
Ariel's apprehension melted away. Those were the eyes she remembered. Intense and strange, but warm and strong as well.
"I'm all right, Ariel," said Lara, running a hand though her hair. She took deep breath and let it go, exhaling the fury that possessed her. "Yeah…I'm all right."
Ursula was beyond furious as she watched. Her fingernails scratched into the cauldron as she watched Ariel approach Lara, Aquata going off to find something to wipe the blood away. Her jaw was clenched so tight it hurt her teeth, her breaths hissing between them.
Strong? This was Richard's idea of strong?This was preposterous! Absolutely farcical! A full pirate crew and a seaclops was just defeated by one human! This single, puny little female brought them all down with a stick and her bare hands! She ripped through those men like a sawfish through a kelp forest! No human, no matter how fit or well trained, should be able to do that!
Remora gave an unimpressed snort as she headed for the door. "Another failure. Why am I not surprised? All that planning and plotting, and a girl undid you. Looks like Morgana isn't the only screw up here."
"This isn't over, Remora!" spat Ursula. "Not even close!"
The cilophyte swam to her potions and grabbed a bottle filled with red fluid. She jetted back to the cauldron, ripping the stopper off and pouring the fluid over the bubble as she started muttering. The cauldron's contents turned an insidious red, bathing Ursula in bloody light.
Remora stopped, turning back. "What are you doing?"
The bubble's image rippled, transitioning to the seaclops. It lay snoring beneath the wharf, its jaw swollen where Lara kicked it. A black orb appeared above it, the red potion snaking out as if it were alive. It sinuated through the water and into the seaclops' mouth, disappearing down its throat.
Ursula smirked. "Moving to plan B."
The bubble pulsed with red light as the seaclops' eye snapped open.
"Are you really all right?" asked Ariel. "You look, uh…"
"A mess, I know," said Lara. She wished she had something to get this blood off her. It was starting to crust. "How's Mel–?"
The boards behind Lara exploded into the air as a towering humanoid shadow with bat like ears and a raised fist suddenly fell over them. Ariel's face paled, staring above Lara as people started screaming.
Lara did not waste time thinking. She grabbed Ariel and leapt left, narrowly avoiding the giant fist that smashed through the spot they had been standing in. The boards snapped like twigs, causing the entire wharf to shudder.
From the corner of her eye Lara saw a tentacle swinging right for them. She clutched Ariel tight and turned her back to it just before it struck, shielding the queen with her body. Her entire back went numb as she and Ariel were sent flying away, bowling into a group of guards and knocking them down. An elbow hit Lara's nose, drawing blood from it.
"Ariel, you okay?" groaned Lara as she pushed a guard off herself. She grabbed her nose, feeling it sore and bleeding but not broken.
Ariel sat up, touching a finger to her split lip. "I think so. Are you?"
"Aaaah!"
"Help me!"
"What's happening!?"
"Get back! Everyone get back!"
"Stop! Someone make it stop!"
"I don't wanna die! I don't wanna die!"
The screaming and shouting galvanized Lara to her feet, quickly pulling Ariel upright. The seaclops was back on the wharf, pulling the last of its tentacles out of the hole it came through. It roared madly, clutching its head as it writhed about. A red aura surrounded its body, which was growing larger by the second. Its muscles bulged and ballooned with terrible squelching wet sounds. Its bones crunched and cracked as they were forced to grow unnaturally. Its dark gray skin turned black and its eye went white. Several pirates met their death when a tentacle came down on them. The manacles on its wrists groaned as the seaclops grew, and then they burst apart entirely.
The pirates were suffering their own curses. Shadows ensnared their body like living ink. It crawled over their skins, turning their bodies to dust as it went. Their pleas for help went unanswered as the guards abandoned them, terrified the curse could jump to them. Ariel felt sick to her stomach as she watched a pirate crumble apart as he crawled towards a frightened guard. One by one they were devoured by the dark curse, sent to whatever fate awaited such abhorrent criminals in the Otherworld.
WHAM!
The seaclops banged its head against the wharf, causing the structure to shake. Ariel almost fell over till Lara caught her, steadying her as the seaclops rammed its head on the decking again and again.
"What's wrong with it!?" asked Ariel. "Why is it doing that!?"
"I don't know!" said Lara, pulling Ariel towards the shore. "But we can't stay to find out! Everyone get to–!"
The seaclops stopped its head banging. It slouched over, arms and tentacles limp as its ears drooped. The red aura surrounding it was strong, fluttering and waving like vapor trails.
Suddenly it reared back, roaring so loud it hurt Ariel's ears. It was over fifty feet tall now, the wharf creaking to support its weight. Its skin turned red as its single eye snapped open, now black with rings of white around its pupil. Veins bulged over its body as its teeth grew long and sharp, ears turning pointed. Toothy bone rings and hooks broke through its suckers as its tentacles grew longer and doubled in number.
Remora narrowed her eyes at the bubble, watching the seaclops roar on and on. That was no ordinary transformation. This new seaclops made the monster from before look like a juvenile. For once Ursula had done something interesting.
"What did you just do?" asked Remora.
Ursula rubbed her hands together with sadistic delight, smiling the widest Remora had seen yet. "Oh, it's not what I did, dearie! It's what the Tears of Ares did!"
Ursula placed her hands on the bubble. Its light brightened in response to her touch, her fingertips sinking into it. "Now, my pet…kill them all!"
A/N: Be sure to favorite and follow if you enjoyed reading, especially if you're new to the story!
DISCLAIMER: I do not own "The Little Mermaid," Disney, or any of its associated characters and intellectual property. I do not own the listed song(s). Everything else, however, is mine =)
